In late October, MIA Vice President-elect, Jo(k)e Biden told the country to “mark his words,” that if we elected his running mate, Barack Obama, it “will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy,” to “remember he said it,” that “we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.” After alluding to Hercules’ Fifth Labor, cleaning Augean’s Stables, and all sorts of “doom and gloom” scenarios that would cause the country to find Obama’s response lacking, and react with comments of “Whoa, wait a minute, yo, whoa, whoa, I don’t know about that decision,” Biden exhorted us to believe him because he has “forgotten more about foreign policy than most of my colleagues know, so I’m not being falsely humble with you.”
“Falsely humble”? Where’s the humility in “Oh, shit, you’re gonna elect a doofus and blame me when he fucks up!”? No wonder Camp Obama keeps him locked up, whenever he sneaks out, he says something stupid, or frighteningly revealing. Sometimes, like in the “gird your loins” speeches, he does both at the same time.
So, now that the country has gone ahead and elected the guy we were warned about, anyway (by a guy who should know, even if he is stupid) a world crisis has indeed erupted. Though Obama has not yet been inaugurated, and George (The Lamest of Ducks) Bush is the only politician keeping a lower profile than Biden, the media, and even Obama himself, to an extent, with his “Office of the President-elect,” have dubbed them “co-presidents,” at the very least. And, there are those in the press who see the horrific attacks in Mumbai as the Obama test to which Biden referred. From Der Spiegel:
The crisis could be Obama’s first big foreign policy test. The world is going to dissect his response. The president-elect has already been in the spotlight for days because of the worsening financial crisis. Given the extent of the economic catastrophe, the January 20th inauguration date seems too far in the future for an ever-growing number of Americans. For three straight days, Obama has held press conferences in order to introduce economics experts who will advise him and stimulus programs that should help the country out of the crisis. His message was clear: “Help is on the way.”
Now, Obama may also be forced into taking responsibility for foreign policy earlier than expected. Indeed, the attacks could be seen as a personal warning directed against him. During the campaign, his vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden attracted attention for announcing that, in the first six months of his presidency, Obama would be tested on the international stage.
With the revelation that British and American citizens were targeted in the attacks, it seems that many are looking to see how Barack Obama reacts. The Australian reports that Obama has previously consulted with former president Bill Clinton during their meeting in Harlem about the potential for conflict in the region, even going so far as offering him the position of “peace envoy,” a prospect that has been explored over on No Quarter. While Obama has issued a statement about the Mumbai attacks, and is said to have called Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, some see Obama’s “strong condemnation” as a rather weak response. And while speculation about Bill Clinton’s future is fun to contemplate, the burning question in my mind is, with the emergence of this “test” of Obama’s foreign policy strength, what are the new implications of his possible appointment of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State?
